Potential of Natural Plant-Based Materials in the Development of Biocompatible Drug-Eluting Surgical Sutures: A Review

Sutures are maneuvered in surgery for wound closure procedure with the aim of healing after injury or discretionary interventions or for hemostasis articulation. In spite of the renaissance advancement of sutures, natural fibers like silk and catgut chromium threads are still used in surgical procedure with modified version in terms of biocompatibility, antimicrobial properties, and drug-eluting characteristics. Natural plant biomaterials have lots of opportunities to act as surgical sutures with the potential to prevent inflammatory responses, increased collagen synthesis, and helping in the overall tissue reconstruction. Further, natural plant materials are more advantageous than synthetic fibers in terms of high biocompatibility, biodegradability, reduced antigenicity, and renewability. The present investigation addresses the number of plants and their parts, demonstrating their potential for drug-eluting suture material, such as Boehmeria nivea, Tinospora cordifolia, Moringa oleifera, Curcuma longa, Lawsonia inermis, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Nepeta dschuparensis B., Chamomile plant, Cocos nucifera L., Trigonella foenum-graecum, Linum usitatissimum, Commelina benghalensis, and Syzygium cumini. Instead, there are numerous plant materials which are unexplored but possess suturing material characteristics. Though, continuous furtherance in the development of surgical sutures, still there is not a perfect universal affordable suture which is right for every patient. Thus by combining the core characteristics of natural plant materials as suture materials with the advanced technology, it might be possible to develop ideal plant-based suture materials. This review focuses on plant-based materials for the development of biocompatible drug-eluting surgical suture, while digging deep into how natural or phyto-constituents can serve to advance this field.